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I got a Imac g4 I thinh it is sunflower? the hard drive has been cleaned off. it comes on with sound then flashing folder with ? and two faces cant get dvd to open to load disk for new install need help this is my first mack so I am mac dumb any help would be great thanks guys douge

When you purchase a 10+ year-old computer...you have to expect some issues. The flashing "?" can mean 1 of 2 things:

1. The HD needs an OS installed on it.
2. The HD that is in it is dead.

You won't know the answer to #2 until you try #1.

* Next question..."What OS version to install?" Answer...probably OS 10.3 or 10.4.
* Next question..."Where can I get these OS install disks?" Answer...eBay.
* Next Question..."I see these gray OS disks for sale. Are these any good?" Answer...no...they are model specific...and won't work.

I think that this about covers it!

- Nick

- Too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs- Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some slow computer tips: Speedup- Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space- Apple Battery Info. Battery

thank you but can you tell me how to get the dvd tray to open if I had the disk thanks

Press & hold down the mouse button when rebooting the computer. Or...press the key on the keyboard with the symbol that looks like an "Underlined-Triangle". It's usually in the upper right area of the keyboard.

- Nick

- Too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs- Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some slow computer tips: Speedup- Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space- Apple Battery Info. Battery

did both many times nothing also tried holding option and apple key at start up no go thanks for your help any thing else to try?

does any one know what will make the drive open, im at a loss helpppp

- Do you actually have an OS disk to put into the drive?
- Are you using an Apple keyboard? If so...hold the "keyboard eject button" (described above) down for about 2 seconds while rebooting.
- When I mentioned the mouse button above...you're supposed to press & hold down the mouse button while the computer boots (don't just "click" the mouse button quickly).

- Nick

- Too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs- Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some slow computer tips: Speedup- Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space- Apple Battery Info. Battery

Little before my time using a Mac, but doesn't it have a slot loading drive? If so, it doesn't "open" - you insert the disk into the slot.

Believe it or not...these iMac G4's had tray-loaders. The eMac's (G4's) were also tray-loaders.

You are right though...many of the iMac G3's (the CRT iMac's) which were older than both the iMac G4's and eMac's...were slot-loaders. Kind of a "back to the future" thing Apple did here.

- Nick

- Too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs- Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some slow computer tips: Speedup- Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space- Apple Battery Info. Battery

Did those tray loaders from Apple not have the hole so you could stick a pin/paperclip in to open them?

I couldn't remember from memory...so I went down to the "Mac Museum" to check.

Both the eMac and the iMac G4 have an outer cosmetic/decorative door that needs to be flipped down to see the optical drive front/face. The eMac definitely has the hole for a paperclip to do the manual opening of the tray. Unfortunately (as far as I could tell) the iMac G4 (what the OP has)...does not seem to have the hole for the paper clip.

The iMac G4 is definitely a tray-loader...but Apple certainly had something different going on with that design (there's an extra plastic trim piece at the front of the tray). So if there is a hole...it's blocked by this extra trim piece. Or maybe there is no hole at all.

- Nick

- Too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs- Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some slow computer tips: Speedup- Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space- Apple Battery Info. Battery

The 350MHz iMac G3 was the first of the tray loaders and yes it did have the little hole for the straightened paper clip to force eject the disc. PowerMac G4/5 and Mac Pro all required to have that little clip-on trim removed so the tray would fully close.

Hang on to those original install discs like grim death! Using OS X.7 or later make a bootable USB thumb drive before running Installer!

Just for fun (or interest)...I thought that I would post a photo of the tray-loading optical drive for the iMac G4:

Enjoy,

- Nick

- Too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs- Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some slow computer tips: Speedup- Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space- Apple Battery Info. Battery

yes I held the eject key and mouse key down while booting just will not open and yes I have disk 10.4 maybe there is a disk stuck inside I just dont know what is up with it maybe I should junk it getting tired of trying for a week now thanks for all the help if any new ideas please let me know -douge